Mikey Garcia: record, next fight and profile →
WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) wants to stay engaged and patient, not taking his eye off the main goal. During a conference call linked to the weekly World Boxing Council presser at the Rail Union in Mexico City, he outlined and signaled his plans.
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York - IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. remained unbeaten by pulling out a split-decision victory over Javier Fortuna. Though six inches taller than Fortuna, the 5-foot-11 Easter (21-0, 14 KOs) spent the majority of the match mixing it up inside, where he was caught frequently by Fortuna's short punches. Fortuna was deducted a point in the second round for holding behind Easter's head, which kept him from tying one of the cards he lost and making the fight a split draw.
The last time Mikey Garcia fought, Robert Easter Jr. picked against him. Easter believed Adrien Broner would beat Garcia, though that choice was personal for Easter, too, because Broner is like a brother to him. Garcia beat Broner impressively in their 12-round, 140-pound fight July 29 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and considered facing Easter next.
The highly anticipated showdown between undefeated three-division world champion Mikey Garcia and IBF 140-pound champion Sergey Lipinets has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 10th. The Premier Boxing Champions event was set to take place on February 10th, but Garcia's quest for a fourth world title had to be rescheduled following a training injury to Lipinets' hand. The fight will be live on SHOWTIME and will remain in San Antonio but move to the Freeman Coliseum.
2018 will be a big year for Jorge Linares - if all goes well this January 27 when he collides with Mercito Gesta at the Forum in Inglewood, California. He hopes that the big fights he expects can be made, either against Mikey García or Vasyl Lomachenko. The Venezuelan said that although his focus is only on Gesta, he knows that if he wins this fight he could get the opportunities he's pushing for in the lightweight division.
Alex Vaysfeld, Lipinets’ co-manager, told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday that the IBF junior welterweight champion “begged” him to proceed with the Garcia fight February 10 at The Alamodome in San Antonio. But based on the recommendation of Dr. Richard Gluckman, a physician affiliated with the California State Athletic Commission, Lipinets wasn’t permitted to fight Garcia due to current condition of his right hand.
Mikey Garcia will have to wait a little longer for his opportunity to become a world champion in a fourth weight class. According to multiple reports Wednesday, Garcia’s junior welterweight title fight against IBF champion Sergey Lipinets has been postponed because Lipinets has suffered a hand injury during training camp. Lipinets’ injury is considered minor, however, thus their 12-round, 140-pound title fight might not be delayed too long.
The much ballyhooed December 9th showdown between Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux turned out to be a very non-competitive affair. The fight was the first in boxing history that matched two-time Olympic Gold medalists against each other.
Promoter Richard Schaefer of Ringstar Sports believes the potential showdown between Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) and Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) needs at least another year or so to properly build into a huge match. At some point this year, both Garcia and Lomachenko could find themselves fighting in the same weight division.
Former world champion and veteran promoter Barry McGuigan expects Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) to topple Jorge Linares (43-3-, 27 KOs) - if the two lightweight champions battle later this year. The World Boxing Council recently ordered Garcia to make a mandatory defense of his WBC lightweight crown against Linares, who holds the WBA title and is also the WBC's Diamond champion.